“Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” Matt. 23:12 (NIV). In this verse Jesus continues to set us free from bondage to worldly success. In fact, those who exalt themselves in this world will be brought low in the next age, which is eternity. But if we humble ourselves, God will exalt us! Perhaps we don’t think about God exalting us, but he is our Father and he wants to honor his children. In the next age God will make us into radiant images of the perfect human, Jesus. God will appoint us to govern his creation as we were originally intended to do.
But it is not easy to humble ourselves. We don’t just hope it will happen; we need to work at it. It requires a change in mindset toward others. We choose to help others succeed and we look for ways to honor them. We present ourselves as a student, not a master, no matter how much we know. We present ourselves as messengers for God, not the author of the messages. We think or ourselves as a child, always aware that we are still just growing up.
The paradox is that pursuing humility usually gains us more honor and affection in this life than those who do pursue humility. Don’t you gravitate to people who humble themselves? But even better, God will exalt us in the next age if we humble ourselves now, which is worth infinitely more than all the honors we could achieve in this life.
